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For the injury/issue that HB is coming back from, unless he was to have his calf stomped on or kicked (which would take out any player regardless), I don't think bruise free or otherwise is particularly relevant. In the footage available, he is twisting, turning, accelerating/decelerating and kicking at pretty much full pace.... all of the things that are likely to cause a recurrence of his calf issue. The more of these sessions he can get through injury free, the stronger he will become.

If true, this would be epic. The world needs a good news story at the moment - we are literally being hit by one tres ordinaire event or story every hour of each day. And Harley Bennell could be it. This is potentially the stuff of dreams - a broken but talented potential superstar is given lifeline by a classy (albeit an underdog, ridiculed) club whose glories are in the distant past - and greatness then results. Make it happen world. At a minimum, it’ll be the next big thing on Netflix.

By the time he gets over his osteitis pubis he'll have osteoarthritis. No thanks.

I remember reading all the comments of opposition fans saying he won’t last the pre-season and that he’ll be back on the turps (or worse) in no time. The fact that he has knuckled down and done the hard work with his body (as well as I’m sure his mind) is a credit to him and the club. I’m cautious to get too excited about him because I know we’ve had history of things taking drastic turns but all you can hope is he keeps putting in the hours and we will all see reward on the field.

this helps... https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/early-christmas-present-mcg-tenant-clubs-get-multi-million-dollar-windfall-20200603-p54z7j.html Collingwood, Melbourne, Richmond, Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon will each receive home game payments estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000 per match for the remainder of the shortened season.

I think he genuinely believes he is the smartest bloke in the room, and therefore he wastes all his time and effort on low percentage tactical gambles, instead of finding a game plan that suits the players he has at his disposal.

I used to see a heap of Melb games in the late 80s onwards and it was so much more entertaining than today’s footy. I never thought I was say this but I actually haven’t missed football that much. Last year I would often find myself falling asleep on a Friday night during the 3rd quarter. Players don’t get a chance to use their flare and skills. Too many structures and tactics which I reckon some players don’t understand.

Surgery on calves, to remove a minor muscle that inflamed nerve. Great diagnosis and reasonably new or innovative surgery if I remember correctly. Hence he can now train well and get fit without major setback (so far... touch wood).

Possibly a matter of maturity. He’s married, a father and has family responsibilities. This is possibly his last chance at making the grade and resurrecting his career.

I'll leave that discussion to more educated minds than me re Bruekner, Burgess etc. But could one factor not just be time? Freo might've gotten him right if they'd stuck with it. If we'd taken HB back in 2014 or so we would've given up on him too already, and another club would be in the position we are in now, with him ready to play.

I bought a few extra memberships to support the club so I have eight scarves on the way. A few will end up stuck to cars displaying West Coast bumper stickers.

Do you wear your dees scarf to a restaurant for a night out in winter?

Send it to Barack Obama. It couldn't hurt. If he ever visits Melbourne, he might drop by.? A coup-Dee-gras.

I’m not sure it really matters... where does the money come from? I don’t know what sort of money he’s on, but where does the $1 million + come from to pay him out? How do we then pay a new coach? Would the AFL give us further assistance if we’re throwing that sort of money away? As is said, I see contracts being honoured as very few clubs will be able to pay anyone out. FWIW I still believe Goody will be a very good AFL coach and we’ll perform well this year, so for me, it’s a moot point.

The league provides equalisation payments! However when you look how the teams with larger supporter numbers get preferential treatment from the AFLthrough Matches televised, blockbusters, on top of the natural advantage they have through supporter numbers, so larger crowds and sponsorships the equalisation funds provided aren’t anywhere sufficient to provide a level playing field. You need two decades of success to jump from where Melbourne is today to being a power club!!

It’s one thing to bring the knives out, it’s another thing altogether to pay out 2.5 years of his contract in this current financial climate. Id say anyone with a contract is very, very safe to the foreseeable time-being.

Harmes back is an attacking move. Can play defensive (as per his tagging during 18 finals) Can play attacking Good skills Good pace Good run Can play taller with his leap Good on the ground. hard/tuff/ disciplined / tick,tick, tick, tick. Not everyone can play mid.

27% ! I find in 94% cases where people quote percentages that they are 48% rubbish, the other 67% is lies

I'm quite confident that Jones can make a contribution, especially with shortened quarters/season. He's got some real potential forward of centre with short stints in the middle. Hibberd is a big worry for me and could come under real pressure if they persist with Harmes at half back. It seems that they want Harmes to be playing the role that Hibberd was traded in for. Strong body, accountable and long, accurate kick. Hibberd has been battling for the last two years, but injuries in the back half have kept the pressure off. I too would be surprised if Bennell plays, but could easily see Sparrow, Bedford, AVB or ANB filling that position. Sparrow and Bedford in particular were showing some very promising signs this year.

Missing the point Completely....

I watched quite a few games from the late 80's/90s a few weeks back. Yeah I agree the replay picks the best parts, but I did watch some full games (and not necessarily "classics" just run of the mill home and away games). For me it was better because of the way the game was played, not necessarily the excitement of a close game. Back then you had the excitement of individual players being able to show their individual brilliance on a regular basis due to the space available to them to work in. Does that mean it was 120 minutes of magic? Of course not! But compare it to today's game and it's almost a different sport. Players these days have so little space to work in the game the individual brilliance and skill is suffocated. Even great players like Martin get scragged and gang tackled so frequently that the level of difficulty for them to break away and showcase their skill is next to impossible. I am an advocate for reducing the number of players on the ground as this will limit the ability to zone and force teams to back to a more man on man gamestyle. The interchange probably needs to be drastically reduced as well but other than that I'm not sure whether anything can really be done while keeping the spirit of the game in tact. We don't want zones or onside/offside rules so maybe the genie is just out of the bottle.

he's been moved back because Frosts departure has left a bit of a hole in our defence, and Fritsch is now preferred as the third tall type forward instead.

Might go down the soft propaganda route and give mine to someone that's never been to a game of football and has no current allegiance to any team. Softly softly catchee monkey.

Like he did last week

So, no training being reported on then? That's 5 minutes I wouldn't mind having back.

The NRL have led the way with their changes to the game. It's made a pedestrian game at club level suddenly more attractive. A few simple changes the AFL could make in a heartbeat but Gill unfortunately needs to consult everyman and his dog. We all know the rotations are a problem, cut them. We all know the umpire takes too long to get the ball back in play asking who the nominated ruck is , telling them which way he is going to go after throwing the ball up (I've never seen an ump go forward). Simple, cut interchange to say 4 or 5 a Q, bounce the ball up straight away( bounce not throw, it brings the unpredictability in and is hard to defend, no call back for poor bounce, play on...it's part of playing a game with an oval ball bad luck), pay free kicks that are there, don't let a scrum develop. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-02/nrl-shows-afl-tired-players-make-for-a-less-tiresome-game/12308318

We were crying out for two wingmen at the end of 2019 andwent out and got the two best that we could. The only way/reason we would shift Tomlinson from that role would be if someone like Baker has come on, and there was an opportunity to move Tomlinson forward. It's a huge no from me at this stage.

For mine, he never looked better than in early 2018 when he and Hogan were getting up the ground. His edge is his endurance, but the game plan doesn't seem to recognise that.....

I hope Petty go forwards.

I know Petty was recruited as a backman, but for me Petty is a forward all day everyday. Weed gets first crack at CHF, if he doesn't perform Petty is next in line.

Totally [censored] irrelevant question! The real issue is how are we going to become tough/ good enough to claw our way above the likes of Richmond, Filth, WC, GWS .... ?

In todays game, I think its crucial that most players on a list are able to be skilled and professional enough to play in multiple positions if required. The days of one trick pony's are pretty much gone.

Harrison Petty #35 Melbourne Demons Age: 20yr 6mth Games: 11 Joel Smith #44 Melbourne Demons Age: 24yr 3mth Games: 11 Both coming back from injury. My tip; much of the forgoing posts are pointless, neither player is coming into the side for a while, baring injury. When/ if they get in the side their position (forward or back) will be determined by the injured player/s.

Couldn't agree more Ron. A fit and raring to go HB will be one of biggest stories to come out of this weird season and will give us poor demented Dees's supporters some hope. Big Maxy on Fox tonight mentioned also a match simulation on Saturday and HB went well. That in itself is a plus as means he came up well from last weeks contact training/match drills and now seems to have put a good block of training in without issues. This guy can play and only hope he keeps training well with no hiccups. Everything crossed for him!!

Exactly Harmes excelled with a mid field run with role in the main, and now we are trying to turn him into a defender Nup!!

Liverpool players took a knee around the centre circle at Anfield in a message of support following the death in police custody of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis. https://www.bbc.com/sport/52875059 Just a nice touch to this, in support of many opressed peoples around the world really. # Black Lives Matter..!

It's true that it is too subjective and relies on ancient memories. I learnt the world's greatest game as a boy in the park and at school in the 50s and 60s when the great game was simple and pure. It was a game of territory and contests. Kick to kick with movement and scoring. Pick one game from the 80s, say first final demolition of roos in 1987, and one game from the 10s, say beating the [censored] in 2018, and watch both and compare. Both were first finals after many years of disappointment. 1987 wins hands down (and not just because of Robbie). Fast, direct footy to contests. No zones, no mauls and no interfering umpires. Just pure footy. Love it.

The thought occured to me that ALL players are going to be a significantly higher risk of soft tissue and joint injury upon return from the stand down. The European football zones tbat have restarted were reporting in the range of double or triple the usual injury rate. In a sense, every player should be preparing with as much caution as Bennell. In fact, others should probably be turning to him to ask about his preparation. I'm also as happy as ever to have Burgess on board in a season which could be defined by injury. Come to think of it, given we can expect triple the injury rate for the first few rounds back, I'd argue that the restart is not the time to be 'trying out kids', given that the chances are likely to come quickly anyway. I'll also be pretty glad for our good solid bodies in the midfield and the depth provided by the Hb/hf types who would already be expected to rotate there anyway. Especially with the reserve options we have to slide into small/medium forward roles if we do need to rob that line to feed the meat grinder in the middle. Meanwhile, Jackson's versatility could pay off fast. But back to Bennell - I think he'll very quickly fit our needs in this weird season even more than he would have anyway.

The vast preponderance of opinion in this thread is that the game in previous decades was a better spectacle .I fully concur with this view and have nothing to add, .However the solution is more intriguing .The WAFL adopted as we are all aware a 16 on the field model with a view to make for a more flowing game .The ground are no bigger today than the 1980s but the players today are and they cover such more ground .The problem of congestion has been exacerbated by the Rodney Eade flood .Is it time to consider the old VFA 16 player a side formula which at least provided extremely watchable footy.

That’s the END game 2-6 years down track - he will play fwd in 10-11 days time. Smith will be used as pinch-hitter up Fwd when matchups suit, Mark it down. Club sees Petty as a KEY FWD prospect don’t buy that website BS!!!

The shorter quarters actually favour someone like Baker or Hunt, explosive speed guys without the tanks to do 85% of 20 minute quarters on the wings which is what Tomlinson was bought in for. I just don't think Tomlinson is all that good in the ruck, not an upgrade on Weid or Jackson, and I don't think he's much of a forward either. He's not all that tall, isn't quick or powerful or a good mark. If he were to play forward I'd expect it would be as a high motor CHF type and we've got plenty of that already. Plan A seems to be to have Tomlinson and Langdon do 85-100% of game time on the wings so the team benefits from their positioning, discipline and high motors and then use the extra rotations on keeping the forward line motoring. Barring injuries or suspension I think we'll give that a month at least to see if it works. If Vanders and Bennell can get back then we're looking at some different options on the wings/half forwards and might be able to mix things up a bit

Seems clear as day that they should. His best ever game against the Cats came when he got a stack of touches in the ruck and kept that belief up forward. In most games he gets his hands to about 8 marks and takes about 1 of them, with mental or physical pressure causing him to spill plenty. Down back you don't have a defender crashing in to you and you simply have to hold your marks or you'll cost the team, he'll quickly start holding his marks and hopefully keep that confidence. He's also one of the best clean handballers on both sides of his body on the list and isn't a bad field kick so he shouldn't be a total turnover merchant. We can't waste a year of his development right now, if he can't get a game up forward we have to get him games down back.

Been wondering for a while if they should trial Weideman down back to get his hands on the ball and build some form. He appears to have the basics to be a good footballer, perhaps a bit more aggression would help but it’s not easy to be a consistent KPF.

With the industry trying to cut costs everywhere you must wonder who is paying the Cats power bill? Maybe Danger has put his hand in his pocket.

Smith has missed so much footy, and is yet to establish himself in the senior team. Its best for him to start back, in defence, to find some form and confidence.

Petty has been training up forward all summer.

Wait, so Joel Smith is now a defender and we won’t look to play him forward? Where does Goodwin think our goals are coming from? He has everyone playing back. Harmes, probably our most attacking mid is down there. Smith. Salem. Oscar. Is there any chance we could get some support for McDonald up forward. Or we gonna leave it to the undersized Fritsch? Maybe he will try Spargo at FF. It wouldn’t surprise me. Surely Weiderman or Jackson come in for Brown, who was deplorable against WCE.

Here's a suggestion offer very cheap memberships ($20) to MCC members who support MFC. Impact we might have more "members" than Carlton = Improved perception on size and following. Cost at best.. neutral Time to think out of the box

Simple solution, get rid of the social distancing laws.